


Jacob Two-Two and the Serenity Serenade

by Katiebug586



Series: Jacob Two-Two and the Anthology Album [3]
Category: Jacob Two-Two - All Media Types
Genre: Acceptance, Buford is still baby, Comfort, Headcanon, Headcanon Accepted, Jacob is Jacob, Love, Pride, Pride but I'm not saying for what you'll have to read the story to find out, Renee is still angry French, Self-Acceptance, Seriously how do i tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22181296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiebug586/pseuds/Katiebug586
Summary: When Jacob discovers what seems to be a love letter in the form of a drawing, he finds himself in a crazy game of matchmaker.But is it what it seems, or is there more to the story?Cowork with VJR22_6
Series: Jacob Two-Two and the Anthology Album [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549141
Kudos: 3





	Jacob Two-Two and the Serenity Serenade

**Author's Note:**

> Note, this isn't related to the other two oneshots in the series, if a oneshot is related to another oneshot, I'll state it in the notes.

There were a lot of things that Jacob didn’t know about his friends, but that didn’t bother him. It wasn’t his business now, was it? Sure, he’d like to know a little more about Renee’s life, but at this point, he accepted it was never going to happen. 

However, Buford was an open book. There was nothing that he  _ didn’t _ tell people about, right? But, as Jacob would soon find out, even open books have a deeper side to their story, the type that an English teacher or philosopher would obsess over.

It all started during another day at Dreary Meadows, or rather, the tail end of a day. Standing by the schoolyards, Jacob and Buford were talking to each other, just like any other day.

“And then, it turned out he forgot his coat, so we had to go all the way back to get it! Funny thing is, we were already at the store!” Buford laughed, finishing another one of his many stories, that Jacob liked to listen to. It was nice, not needing to repeat himself to be heard, as Jacob often had to do at his house.

“That sounds like a waste.”

“Not really! I like car rides, don’t you?” 

“Maybe it’d be more tolerable if I was an only child. Noah and Emma are always planning  _ something. _ ”

Before Jacob could add anything else, Buford suddenly became very worried. “Oh shoot! What time is it?”

“Four-thirty on the dot, why?”

“I’m gonna be late for tennis practice! Sorry, Jacob, gotta go, talk to you tomorrow!”

“I didn’t even know you took tennis-” Before Jacob could even finish his sentence, Buford was already gone.

“Practice...”

Jacob sat back down, and for a moment simply sat there thinking. Then, his arm brushed something beside him, and he turned to see Buford’s backpack, forgotten.

“Oh man! Oh man! He left his backpack here! Buford! You forgot your-”

Oh right, Buford was long gone by now. He couldn’t just let the blue bag sit here unattended, it surely would get snagged up, either by some kids or… Greedyguts. The last thing that he wanted to do was be responsible for another mission that involved going into the lost and found bin.

So it looked like he had no other choice than to take it home with him. He was absolutely positively certain that Buford wouldn’t mind him watching over it for the day. He’d probably be thankful.

Slinging it over his shoulder, he started to walk towards his house, when suddenly, someone stepped in front of him. It was none other than Wilson and his gang.

“Hey Two-Four, what’s with the backpack? Did you finally break up with your  _ boyfriend _ and steal all his stuff? Forget Jacob or Two-Two, your name should be Karen!”

Wilson picked Jacob up by the shirt, who retaliated by trying to squirm away. “Lemme go! Lemme go!”

“Uh-oh, somebody better call the manager!” Wilson giggled obnoxiously as he could.

“For your information, those jokes are  _ not _ funny! They’re not! And secondly, I didn’t steal that from him! Buford forgot it, so I’m just looking after it!”

“Oh.” Wilson dropped Jacob on the ground, but now he was holding onto the backpack, holding it up out of Jacob’s reach. “Pathetic. Honestly, Poo-Poo, your standards may be low, but they should be higher than whatever  _ alien _ that Pugh guy is.”

“He’s not an alien! Now gimmie that back!”

“You know what? I’ve decided that  _ I’m  _ gonna look after the backpack now. First order of business? What do you think, guys?”

Dushane snorted. “Open it up and steal his homework!”

Quigley responded next. “I got one better! Dump all his stuff out on the ground!”

“No, no! Don’t do any of that! Please!” Jacob pleaded, but his cries fell on deaf ears.

Wilson grinned, gripping the zipper. “The verdict has been decided. We will open the backpack, steal the homework, and then dump all his stuff on the ground!”

Jacob tried to reach even further for the backpack, but Dushane was quick to grab and restrain him. With a demented smile, Wilson unzipped the backpack and plunged his hand in, but that was as far as he got.

For as soon as he did just that, something smacked down on Wilson’s skull. Making a face of pain, he quickly fell to the ground, revealing Jacob’s hero.

It was none other than Renee, tightly holding her skateboard.

“Renee? Renee?! What are you doing here?!” Jacob squeaked out before he was dropped by Dushane, who was speechless at what he just witnessed.

“Saving your butt, pipsqueak!” She turned to the other bullies. “Now, unless you want your skulls cracked as well, you better scram.”

Dushane and Quigley immediately ran off, the latter yelling “Mommy! There’s an angry French girl after me, mommy!’

Watching the boys run off, Renee stepped by Wilson’s still unconscious body, and yanked the bag from him, handing it over to Jacob. “I believe zis belongs to you.”

“Well, actually, it belongs to Buford, but thanks anyway.” As he went to sling it back over his shoulders, a small piece of paper fell out. Picking it up, he noticed it was a rather crude drawing of a dinosaur burning down a building, but what confused him the most was the name that was under the drawing.

_ ‘- Serenity’ _

‘Who’s Serenity?’

Before he could question it any further, Renee grabbed the paper out of his hand. “Jacob! Don’t you know it’s razer rude to read ozer people’s stuff?!”

“I wasn’t trying to!”

“Really? Because it looks to me like you were.”

“There’s a name on it.” Jacob bluntly stated, starting to feel embarrassed.

“Of course zere is. It’s Buford’s after all, isn’t it?”

“It doesn’t say Buford though. Look for yourself, that is, if you want to, Miss. I Never Break Rules.”

Renee glared at Jacob for a brief moment before unfurling the paper completely. “It’s just a drawing of a dinosaur.”

“Under it, under it!”

“Serenity…” She muttered to herself. “Who’s Serenity?”

“That’s what I wanted to know! You don’t think he’s… gone bad, do you? What if the bullies got to him?! What if he’s acting all sweet and innocent with us, but then he takes people’s stuff behind our backs?! What if he’s-”

Renee held her finger up, a small smile on her face. “I know what zis is.”

“You do?”

She looked back at the drawing and then back at Jacob. “Buford has a crush.”

“A crush?! A crush?! Oh no, this is gonna be just like that time with the love bug, and how he was all gross and mushy and-” 

“Oh, Jacob, zis is nozing like zat. Zat horrendous zing was forced, zis is natural, can’t you tell?”

“No?”

“Love is a part of life, mon ami, as much as you don’t want to admit it. Whoever zis Serenity is, it’s obvious Buford is crushing on her hard, but in his own Bufordy-way, not in ze weird and disgusting lovebug way. It’s obvious zat he has been getting her to draw him pictures, too nervous to express how he feels.”

“That makes sense.” Jacob said, thinking about it more thoughtfully.

“Has he been acting any different lately?”

“Actually, yea, he has! For starters, he said he has tennis practice today, tennis practice! I never knew he did tennis, let alone had an interest in it!”

Renee raised an eyebrow. “Very interesting. It’s obvious he’s saying zat he has zis ‘tennis practice’ so he can go meet up wiz zat girl.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Zink about it, Jacob. He doesn’t want to tell us, probably because he zinks we’ll overreact or somezing, you know, like ze Valentine’s incident.”

“That was a completely different story!" He defended, though Renee only became smugger. "Fine, I overreacted, big deal. What do you think we should do?"

"Play matchmaker, of course, pipsqueak!"

"Matchmaker?"

"How else do you zink Buford and Serenity will get togezer? He'd never be able to admit it on his own."

"You don't know that, you don't."

"Girls know zese zings, Jacob."

"Okay, well, should we let Buford know?"

"How inept are you at zis stuff? You don't let ze Matchee know beforehand! It makes it convoluted and awkward! We're just pushing zen in ze right direction, we're not-"

Before Renee could continue, Wilson began to wake up, groggy. "Where am I? I had this really weird dream. You were there, Two-Four, and you had this backpack that looked suspiciously like that one and-"

Wilson didn't get the chance to finish before Renee smacked him again with the skateboard, knocking him out once more. "I say it's time we get going.”

“Good idea, good idea.” Jacob murmured, looking at Wilson. “See you tomorrow?”

Renee nodded, before taking off on her skateboard. Not willing to wait for Wilson to wake up again, Jacob also started back home, reflecting on this new piece of information. It seemed so unlike Buford to have a crush, but what else could it be?

The  next morning, Jacob was still feeling confused and slightly disoriented. He wanted to be there for his friend, he did, but the idea of Buford being in love was still so very arcane to him. Maybe Renee was right, maybe it’s time he moved on and accepted that love exists and that practically anybody can fall in love, without it being forced.

Speak of the devil, he saw Buford by the schoolyards, talking to someone out of view. Perfect! Now he can give the bag back to him, and perhaps ask him about Serenity. He knew what Renee had said about not ‘interfering’ and ‘making it awkward’, but it still didn’t feel right to leave his best bud out of this. People should know about  _ their _ business. In fact, he was beginning to question Renee as well. This wasn’t even their business, to begin with, so why did she feel so entitled to mingle in it?

But before he could question her intentions any further, just as he was approaching Buford, the latter still unaware of his presence, he was rudely yanked into one of the bushes nearby.

“Hey! Let me-” His captor slapped a hand over his mouth.

“Quiet, you idiot! Do you want him to hear us?!” They replied, in a hushed whisper. Looking up, he noticed it was Renee, and he quickly tried to get their hand off of him.

“Renee?! What are you-”

“Shh.” She replied, in a dangerously low voice, before pointing outside of the bushes. “Look.”

Looking where she was pointing, the site made Jacob’s stomach do a complete flop. Buford was talking to a girl! It wasn’t a girl from their class either, it was someone Jacob had never seen before, and he could only assume that Renee had never seen her around either. Well, until now.

“That must be Serenity!’ He barked, before shrinking back at Renee’s glare. “Sorry.”

“How interesting.” She stated, bemused. “She looks a lot like him, doesn’t she?”

As much as he didn’t want to, Jacob’s curiosity forced him to get a better look. The girl  _ did _ look similar to Buford, though not by much. While their hair was the same color, hers’ was much longer and thicker. She also lacked the ‘iconic’, according to Jacob, overbite that Buford spouted.

“I don’t see it. I don’t.” He admitted.

“Of course  _ you _ don’t! You know next to nozing about love! I bet you could fill a whole locker wiz what you  _ don’t _ know about love and-” She was interrupted from her ranting when Buford and the mystery girl leaned in for a hug.

While a smile might have grown on Renee’s face, only nausea grew for Jacob, clutching his stomach. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“You act as if you’ve never hugged me before.”

“That’s different! You’re one of my best friends, and it was a completely platonic hug, a completely platonic hug! This is nothing but mushy love!”

“Bien. Still, I guess zis proves he  _ does _ have a crush.”

“I guess, but I was wondering, do you think it’d be better if we just left them alone instead of trying to play matchmaker? I mean, they’re hugging and stuff, so maybe he already told her how he feels?” He sheepishly replied.

Renee simply shook her head. “No, you fool! Don’t you get it? She’s ze one platonically hugging him! She zinks of him as friends, but he wants to be more zan zat!”

“Really?”

“Yes! We need to push zem in ze right direction or else he’ll forever be trapped in ze inescapable black hole known as ze friendzone!”

“The friendzone, what’s that?” Jacob asked, perplexed.

“It’s when you like somebody, but zey only zink of you as a friend.”

“I like you, Renee. Does that put  _ me _ in the friendzone?”

“But do you  _ like-like _ me?”

“Ew, no!”

“Zen no, it doesn’t.”

“Good. Good.” Looking back outside the bushes, Jacob saw that both Buford and the girl were gone and that he’d have to wait to give Buford back his backpack. “So, what do we do now? You know, with the whole playing matchmaker thing.”

“Well…” Renee thought for a couple of moments. “We could try inviting zem to ze park for a picnic, and zen giving zem some time alone.”

“That’s a great idea! I’ll ask Buford right now!” Jacob moved to get up, but Renee put her hand in front of him. “Non, I got a better idea. We don’t want to talk to him right now, it’d be too awkward. When you drop his backpack off, put a note or somezing telling him to meet us at ze park after school, and to bring his new friend.”

“Oh, alright.” Jacob stated, slightly upset at the fact that he wouldn’t be able to talk to Buford until later, but as it was proven time and time again, Renee knew what she was doing most of the time, whether it was fixing Jacob’s hair after he and Buford ruined it or figuring out one of the clues in a mystery book.

He’d have to take her word for it.

During the school day, when they weren’t being watched by Sourpickle or Greedyguts, Jacob and Renee talked to each other, planning out the events that would unfold. Buford had tried to talk to them, but they pretended to ignore him, but would occasionally glance at him when he wasn’t looking.

Finally, it was time to put their little date in action. As the final bell of the day rang and every kid scampered out, eager to go home, Jacob only had one goal in mind. Holding the bag, which had a note attached to the front, he sneaked his way over to Buford’s locker and put the bag in front of it.

Seeing Buford walking over, he quickly absconded, with there being no trace that he was ever there, save for the backpack. 

Phase one was complete. Now all he had to do was get to the park, where Renee was setting up the picnic, and wait.

This was gonna be good.

Renee was already at the park, laying out a blanket and setting up a basket of food, humming as she did so. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Jacob running up.

“Did you leave ze you know what at ze you know where?”

  
“Uh-huh! The you know what’s at the you know where!”

“All we need to do now is wait, zen.” She smiled in satisfaction. It was going great so far. In the distance, they could see Buford running up to them, the female girl in tow.

“Here they come! Here they come!” Jacob looked at the two, before looking back at the blanket spread. This was such a romantic setup! Surely Buford and his companion would be able to get to know each other, and perhaps something  _ more _ would pop up.

“Hi, guys!” Buford said, in his overly cheerful voice as he arrived. “Sorry I’m late! I didn’t know there was going to be a surprise picnic, you know?”

“Zat’s alright! We zought it would be fun for you and your little friend.”

Buford was nudged by the girl. “Oh right! She’s not my friend.”

“She’s not?” Renee stated, sharing a glance at Jacob. Perhaps they truly were already dating?

“Her name’s Liz, she’s my cousin.”

“Wait what?! What?!” Jacob jumped up in surprise.

“Uh, hello.” ‘Liz’ squeaked out, it was obvious she was shy.

“Yea! Her name’s short for Lizard!” Buford playfully remarked, before being jabbed in the side. 

“It’s not!” Liz pouted.

As the cousins talked amongst themselves, Jacob and Renee looked at each other, the same look of confusion and worry on their faces. If this wasn’t Serenity, then who was? However, Jacob didn’t want to ask, knowing that this was still Buford’s business, and honestly? Who cares who she was, this was all Renee’s idea, to begin with! Let Buford get drawings from whoever he wants, right?

“So,” Buford said, looking nervous all of a sudden. “I wanted to tell you guys something.”

“You do? Please, tell us, Buford.” Renee replied, winking at Jacob.

“Well, I wasn’t sure how to bring this up beforehand, I didn’t know what you’d think, but I haven’t exactly… always been Buford.” His voice died out at the end.

“How have you not always been Buford? Are you an ali- Oh sorry, continue.” Jacob felt embarrassed, not meaning to interrupt his friend, it just slipped out. 

“It’s complicated, really complicated. I’ll just say that I haven't… always been a boy.”

“Huh?” While Jacob was confused beyond belief, Renee grew a look of total understanding. He desperately wanted to ask her what Buford meant but decided not to.

_ “I’m… I’m Serenity!” _ Buford choked out while Jacob gasped. How could  _ he _ be Serenity?

“How do you know about all the Serenity stuff?” Was all that Jacob could ask, not ‘How are you Serenity?’ or ‘What do you mean?”.

“Well, it was obvious. You left a note that said to ‘Bring Serenity’.” Buford’s eyes lit up. “Oh, now I realize what happened! I left my backpack, you grabbed it, Wilson appeared because he wanted to take my homework, you saw a picture that said Serenity on it, then assumed I had a crush on a Serenity, then saw me talking to my cousin, and thought that was Serenity, am I right?"

Jacob and Renee were completely shocked, how did Buford know? Actually, they shouldn’t be too surprised at this point, considering who they were talking about. “Uh, yeah, that’s actually exactly what happened, buddy.”

“Cool!”

“What I don’t understand is, how are you Serenity? How?” Jacob asked, still confused as ever.

“I mean, I was. I used to be a girl, but It’s just I didn't feel like a girl, and I decided to pick the name Buford cause I liked it! It’s way better than Serenity. I hope you guys are okay with that? I mean, me being a boy even though I wasn’t always one?”

“Why wouldn’t we be okay with zat?” Renee quickly asked.

“It’s just-” Buford began before Liz cut him off. “Not everyone takes kindly to people like Buford. They think it’s wrong.”

“Well, they’re wrong! They’re wrong!” Jacob quickly added, stepping in to defend his friend, even though there was nothing to defend him from. “We love you, Buford! It doesn’t matter if you  _ were _ a girl, or if you  _ were _ Serenity, why would it? You’re still gonna be you.”

Buford felt a couple of tears come to his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. “Thanks, guys. People have made fun of me for it before, so I stopped telling people. I was nervous that if I told you two, you’d do the same.”

Jacob immediately got up and bear-hugged his best friend. “Never, never ever.”

Renee got up next, walking over to Buford. “I don’t get why people would judge you for zat. It’s none of zeir business.”

She gave Buford a small and quick hug, but a hug nonetheless. “Eizer way, Jacob’s right. We’ll never leave you.”

Liz smiled, looking at Buford. “You were right, Bu. They really  _ are _ good friends.”

Buford smiled, happy to finally get his secret out, even happier that his friends were so accepting of him when so many people weren’t. Why wouldn’t they be though? As he thought about it, he realized that all this time, he was just worrying for nothing. Of course they’d still like him, it wasn’t in their nature to be anything else. So why did he worry so much? Maybe because he didn’t want to lose the two greatest things in his life.

Either way, that was all done and over now, and he could finally rest at ease knowing that while Serenity had a good run, it was time for Buford to take over.

He was Buford, and that’s how it’d always be.


End file.
